Internet outage causes hardships for Jax State campus

Jacksonville State University’s Wi-Fi accessibility caused quite a fuss on campus from September 8-17. On September 17 the wireless Internet has returned thanks to the work of JSU’s Information Technology department.

“JSU Information Technology has officially resolved what they consider to be the root of the network issues that have caused the university to be without wireless internet since September 8. After several days of working with wireless network and core infrastructure vendors, they identified and corrected a memory leak in a critical hardware unit,” according to a post on JSU’s official website.

“Correcting the error allowed IT to reconnect the wireless network and eliminate the previous symptoms of network congestion. The university apologizes for the frustration this matter has caused and appreciates the patience displayed by students and employees during this time.”

This is good news considering the rumors which floated around campus regarding hackers. Teachers and students alike can now rejoice because they can better access their online course material on campus.

Megan Petersen, a JSU student and Early Education major, said that the Wi-Fi outage “hurt the teachers as well as students, interfering with teachers’ lesson plans and keeping students from accessing their course material on campus.”

Students and teachers could be seen at any one of the local Wi-Fi hotspots in Jacksonville. Crowded places like McDonalds or Burger King became more than places for quick meals, they became a place for students to gather to complete their homework or for teachers to finish their lesson plans.

During the outage, the JSU website made sure students knew that the computer labs were in Merrill Hall and Houston Cole Library as well as their posted hours, and also asked faculty to be understanding regarding students who could not access the internet. JSU kept students updated through their website and Facebook page.

With Wi-Fi back up on campus, students return to their dorms to complete their homework, and teachers can now readily access their emails as well as their students through Blackboard. “It’s great to finally have the Wi-Fi back up,” said Petersen. “I can now use my E-text for class. Before, I didn’t even have a textbook.”

It’s safe to say that JSU’s campus Wi-Fi is of great importance to students and teachers, and the temporary outage showed the campus how reliant it is on wireless access.

Unfortunately Vincent Houston, Vice President of Information Technology, was unable to be reached for an interview regarding the connectivity issues.